Reading Round Up: November 23rd – 30th

Happy Thursday Friends! I hope everyones week is going well. Things are going slowly here as we adjust back to remote learning and all of us being home during the day. Here is the last books I read in November and I had some real duds, I always feel bad when I rate things low but not all books are for everyone. If you have read any of these, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Meant To Be Immortal by Lynsay Sands – 4 Stars In book #32 of the Argeneau Vampire series we are following Mac Ageneau who after just moving in to his new house gets caught in a fire and almost dies. While dealing with the aftermath of the fire he meets CJ Cummings who is in town to investigate one of the town’s police officers and gets roped into helping out at the fire. Mac is a vampire and CJ is his potential life mate so now he has to try and convince her to be with him without scaring her off. I always love these stories because they are always a good time. You have a love story going on but you almost always have a ton of action that helps the story move forward. One of things I really love about this series is that you can really jump on at any point, the author always gives enough background so new readers can jump in and old readers get a little refresh. If you are looking for a fun paranormal romance series, I highly recommend these and I think that this one is great for new readers to jump in with. Thank you to Avon Books, Harper Voyager and Netgalley for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review! (This book comes out April 27, 2021.)

Why I Held Your Hand by Augustus Reilly – 2 Stars This was a weird for me. Overall I liked the writing and tone of the story, it kept me engaged and moving forward. However, the story itself was just off. In the very first scene we have the main character, Laura who is asleep in her car with no bra on and some boy in the parking lot is wearing it. While it was funny it was not explained well enough to make sense. Right after this she meets two men, one she is immediately attracted too and one she did not like. However after starting a relationship with first guy she starts a working relationship with the other and over time develops feelings for both men. I did not like that the main character slept with both men pretty close together and that she couldn’t make up her mind. When she was one man she was all about him but then would switch and only want to be with the other when he was around. While there were many aspects of this that I didn’t care for I think I will try from this author again as her writing was engaging. Thank you to Rhapsodic Press and Netgalley for my complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Make Them Cry by Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith – 1 Star I am not sure where to begin with this book but I will say I don’t think it was for me. I felt like this story was all over the place at times and it was hard to follow. We have three points a view, A DEA agent, an enforcer for a drug cartel and a CIA agent. Diane Harbaugh is the DEA agent and after a dicey situation she up and leaves for Mexico without telling anyone, to deal with a mysterious man asking for her help. While there she runs into CIA agent Ian Carver who helps her out. Also trying to find the DEA agent is Tomas, who is after the man she is there to talk with. What follows is a lot of action that I found hard to keep up with at times, I honestly can’t say what the main point of this story was. I also found the characters hard to relate to and understand their motivations throughout the book. Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for my complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Second Chance on Cypress Lane by Reese Ryan – 4 Stars This was a fun second chance romance about Dakota who was a reporter in NY and after a work scandal moved back to her home town of Holly Grove Island. While home she helps take care of her father and reconnect with her best friend Sin and her first love Dexter. I loved the dual perspectives of both main characters and seeing why they made the choices they did. At times I struggled with Dakota because she was so intent on keeping one path she was ignoring everything around her. Dexter was a swoon worthy main man, he cared for Dakota even after all their time apart and just wanted what was best for her, however he thought he knew what that was without consulting her a few times. Over all a very fun read and I loved the summer setting, made me want to go on a warm vacation! If you love small town romances with a little bit of steam, then be sure to pick this one up. Thank you Forever Pub for my gifted copy in exchange for my review!

In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren – 2 Stars I really wanted to like this book as Christina Lauren has written some of my favorite books but sadly this one just didn’t work for. This is the story of Mae (who had so many nicknames that at times I couldn’t keep them all straight!) who after spending the week with her family and friends at their annual Holiday vacation gets into an accident and starts a Groundhog Day time loop. She restarts the week over until she gets things right. I found myself bored at times and not wanting to pick the book because I was tired of reading the same story over. There was also a romance in this book that I just never felt any connection with and it felt a little forced to me. I think that this book just came at a time when I needed something else and this one just didn’t deliver.

The Revenge Pact by Ilsa Madden-Mills – 4 Stars – Sports Romances is one of my favorite sub-genres! This is the story of River who has been crushing on one of his frat brother’s girlfriend since before they got together but would never do anything to hurt his “brother”. After a really bad week Anastasia ends up breaking up with her boyfriend and ends up turning to River for comfort. I really enjoyed the story of Anastasia and River and the struggle they went through when dealing with their feelings. One of my only problems with the story is they would mention a few character traits multiple times for River but they were not explained well with why he did those. River was a fun character to get to know and I really liked how he dealt with his feelings for Anastasia. Highly recommend if you are looking for a fun New Adult or Sports romance.